What Could've Been
by DeppFreak99
Summary: This is just my story of what would've happened if Mason lived in Frostbite.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Bad Dreams**

Eddie, Mason, Mia, Lissa, and Christian were all huddled behind me as I faced Isaiah, who stared at me with menacing eyes. "You shouldn't have came here…" he said calmly as he looked at me then Lissa then back. "Although, you did save me a lot of trouble by coming…" He then started to walk towards Mason, and pulled him out of the frightened group. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" I yelled as Isaiah bent down to Mason's neck- teeth bare and ready. "NOOOOOO!" I screamed franticly and started to run towards Mason, who looked at me with frightened eyes. I was too slow, Mason eyes suddenly went blank as he fell to the hard floor… "NOOOOOO!" I screamed again. Then my eyes opened. I woke up.

It was all a dream, or nightmare. I sat up in my bed and rubbed the sweat off my forehead- bad dreams always made me sweat. I seemed to always have dreams like these since I went to Spokane last winter. A memory I did not want to relive.

"Well, I might as well get ready for the day." I said to myself as I stepped out of bed, heading towards my small closet. "Hmmm, maybe a blue top and jeans will do…" I muttered as I pulled out my worn out blue jeans and a navy blue T-shirt. I then heard a small knock at my door.

"Hey, it's me. Can I come in?" I would know that voice anywhere. That voice belonged to a boy that was crazy for me. That voice belonged to a boy I wanted to love. That voice belonged to a boy who risked his life trying to kill Strigoi. That voice belonged to a boy who nearly died for me. That voice belonged to Mason.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Getting Ready**

"Come in," I called while I buried my head back into the cramped closet to find a pair of presentable shoes and socks. I then heard a soft click as the door opened.

"God, Rose- you still aren't ready?" I could hear Mason was impatient. And I couldn't blame him, today was the first day of Field Experience- and we got to find out who were guarding for the next six weeks today.

"Don't worry. I'll only be a minute," I said, my head still in the closet.

"Ugh, girls are so slow," Mason said as he slumped down on my desk chair.

"Fine, go without me," I snapped as I emerged from my closet.

"No," Mason replied flatly.

"Okay then stop being a pain and stop complaining" I said as I gathered my clothes and walked into my tiny bathroom as I shot a glare at Mason.

"God, you are so bitchy in the morning." Mason replied.

"Well, I wouldn't have to be a bitch if someone would stop rushing me!" I said as I slammed my bathroom door. I hope he wouldn't be mad for too long.

I quickly got dressed, brushed my hair and teeth so I looked somewhat okay, and walked out of my bathroom. Unsurprisingly, Mason was still waiting for me. I knew we couldn't stay mad at each other for too long.

"C'mon- if we hurry, we won't be late." Mason said as he smiled at me.

We rushed out of my dorm building and across the field to where all the novices were gathered and chattering excitingly. Me and Mason settled ourselves right next to Lissa, Christian, and Eddie.

"Where were you guys?" Lissa asked curiously as we sat down.

"Well- SOMEONE had to take forever to get ready!" Mason said as he gave me a playful glare.

"Shut up, Mason," I said, just as playfully.

"Quiet everyone, quiet please!" Alberta called out the excited group of teens. We all grew quiet instantly. The ceremony began.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Ceremony**

"As you all know," Alberta began "we're here because this is the most important day of your education here at St. Vladimir's before you take your final trials." Not a single noise aside from Alberta's voice sounded in the gym. "Guardian Stan Alto will give you a recap of how the field experience will happen over the next 6 weeks."

Stan then stepped forward to continue where Alberta left off, but I wasn't paying attention. I already read the booklet about field experience thoroughly several times. I stared at Dimitri, like I had millions of times before. God, I wish he would realize already we could be together.

I was brought back to attention when Mason poked me in the ribs. "Hey, here we go. We're gonna find out who were gonna guard!" Mason didn't even bother to look cool and composed or hide his growing excitement.

"Mason Ashford," Alberta called out as I heard Mason hold his breath in anxiousness. "You are assigned to Jesse Zeklos."

"Dammit. Why him out of all the people here!?" I heard Mason mutter under his breath and he stomped down to get his packet. I couldn't blame him though. Though Jesse was extremely cute, he was an extremely cute bastard.

Alberta kept calling names and I heard Eddie bouncing his knee up and down non-stop and heard him whispering quietly to himself "Please let me get someone good, please let me get someone good, please let me get someone good…"

"Edison Castile," Eddie tensed immediately. "You have Vasilisa Dragomir."

I froze. Lissa is supposed to be MY assignment! Eddie went down, looking panicked and confused. Well, if Eddie has Lissa, then who do I have? The possibilities were endless.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I heard my name called. "Rose Hathaway," Alberta announced with such authority it was kinda scary. "You will be guarding Christian Ozera."

What? I must've not have heard her right. I COULD NOT have Christian. It would defy the laws of nature! I sat there-bewildered, while people stared at me like I was a huge idiot, which I probably looked like. I then walked down, still confused and picked up my packet and stake.

After everyone else received their packets, everyone left to go on to start the field experience, but I stayed behind. I walked up to Alberta and Dimitri, ready to unleash my fury.

"You made a mistake" I growled.

"I'm sorry?" Alberta replied, surprised.

"You heard me, you gave me the wrong person."

"I did not, Miss Hathaway. Neither here nor in the real world will you get to pick the person you guard."

"But I'm supposed to have Lissa, I'm going to have her after graduation!" I practically yelled.

"There is no rules saying you are 'supposed to have ' anyone." Alberta replied, her face still and not showing any signs of impatience.

"If you think I will guard Christian Ozera… YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" I screamed.

"Rose!" I heard Dimitri hiss.

"Christian is your assignment, Miss Hathaway. End of discussion." And with that she turned dramatically and walked out.

This was going to be the longest six weeks of my life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

(A/N- I am so so so sorry for not writing a chapter for such a long time, I have been on vacation and then I've just been busy. Anyways, on with the story!!)

I stomped out of the gym, pissed and annoyed, and reluctantly set off to the cafeteria. On the way there, I saw Eddie heading in my direction.

"Rose, I am so sorry about Lissa-" he began

"Hey, it's fine, it isn't you fault," I replied.

"I know you really wanted Lissa…" he said.

"Eddie. It's fine." I said firmly.

After reassuring him I wasn't mad, I continued to the cafeteria, making sure to avoid Adrian. There I found Lissa, and for once, she was not with Christian. Good. If I saw him now, I think I would kill him.

Then I explained my situation, though Lissa showed no sympathy. "He's my boyfriend, he's not that bad." Lissa tried to reason, but my bad mood didn't budge.

Eventually, I got tired of Lissa, and went to find Christian. Unfortunately, Field Experience started right after lunch. I found him with the feeders, of course. After he fed, he stared at me and said, "Look, I know you don't like this anymore than I do, but lets make the best of it, ok?"

Hmm, a peace offering? And after a moments consideration, I sighed and said "Fine".

He then smiled and replied "Perfect. Now we can talk about dreamy boys and braid each others hair and do makeovers!" I smiled and in my sweetest voice, told him to shut up.

I followed Christian to his first class, which was biology. I, along with the other novices, had to stand in the back of the room and be a shadow. After biology, we headed to Home Economics. I took my place against my wall and quietly looked around the room. Then I saw that Mason was also here and gave him a small smile.

The class started and the teacher announced, "Today, we'll be making a simple dish: brownies." I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting out laughing. Christian Ozera. Making brownies. I caught Mason's eye and we both smiled, and luckily, the teacher didn't notice. "We'll be working in pairs, but there is an odd number of students, so there will be one group of three." She said. But of course, Christian decided to be his usual loner and work alone.

Once the teacher was busy with helping others, I said to Christian, "Hey, having fun making brownies, Christina?" I couldn't contain myself, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"Shut up," was all said as he mixed all the ingredients.

After a few minutes, he said, "I know you don't like it, but not being paired up with Lissa maybe a good thing."

I sighed and said, "You heard about me and Alberta?"

"Everyone in the school heard, Rose." he replied.

"Joy." I said.

We then had a surprisingly peaceful conversation, which didn't last long. With 5 minutes left in the period, and realizing that they haven't pissed me or Christian off yet, Jesse and Ralf headed over to us. Great.

"You guys planning ways to stop precious Lissa from committing suicide? I can't blame you, her boyfriend and best friend are together 24/6." Before Christian or I could manage out a comeback, Mason walked up to Jesse and said coolly "At least Christian makes the Field Experience bearable and didn't lose his virginity at age 10. "

Okay, so I could've thought of a better comeback than that, but at least Mason tried. And just as Jesse opened his mouth to say some reply, the bell rang and class ended.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: the attack

The rest of the school day ended surprisingly quickly, and I managed not to kill Christian. Day one down, a million more to go.

As we walked together down to the cafeteria to pick up a late lunch, Christian brought up the strangest of subjects.

"Rose, are you going out with Mason?"

I was stunned momentarily. Me? With…Mason? He was my friend, and sort of cute in a weird way. But I have not now, nor ever been romantically involved with him.

"What? Chris-", but before I could interrogate him, a felt a blow from behind. Great, I was taken by surprise. On my first test. Way to go, Rose. But I didn't let the small disadvantage get in the way as I turned sharply to face my attacker. Dimitri.

I looked at him, and despite the fact he was my fake enemy at the moment, I enjoyed the closeness between us. But I quickly forgot that as I dodged one of his swings and then pushed Christian out of harm's way. God, Dimitri was the most bad-ass and persistent attacker I have ever seen. And since I have fought actual stirgoi, that was saying something. He kept throwing kicks and punches at me, and any other move that a stirgoi could do. I was too busy defending to reach for my stake. But after I saw the crowd form and felt the time pass by, I suddenly gathered the strength to land a punch in Dimitri's hard chest and that gave me time to stake him. The crowd briefly clapped and then dispersed to go on with their own lives.

I got up and briefly examined me arms and legs to make sure I didn't gain any major injuries. Besides a few bruises, I was perfectly fine. Dimitri, of course, was unscathed. I walked toward Dimitri, totally forgetting that I was supposed to check on Christian. Dimitri looked up at me for a second, and did nothing further to acknowledge my presence. Huh, that's weird. Usually he looks up at me for 3 seconds. Something must be wrong.

"Hey!" I called out to him, as I sprinted to catch up to him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

He looked at me, and said flatly, "Nothing." and continued walking. God, Dimitri failed at lying.

I grabbed his shoulder and said "Dimitri, I know your pissed- is it because I beat you? What is it?"

He turned to face me, shaking my hand off in the process. "Rose, I'm fine. Drop it. Besides, you have to protect Christian", and with that comment, he walked off-leaving me to process his words. For some reason, the phrase "protect Christian" stuck in my head like a broken tape. Why would I need to PROTECT Christian? I know that this is field experience, but I'm guarding him- not PROTECTING him. And after what happened with Isaiah in Spokane, I can't take a comment like that lightly. Does Dimitri know something I don't?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

After Dimitri left me to ponder the reason of his short temper and choice of words, Christian yelled at me for leaving him back at the site of the fake-attack as we headed toward the cafeteria.

"…I can't believe you just left me back there! You just walked away from me! What if Stan or someone else decided to come up and kidnap me!" Christian ranted on until I told him to shut up.

After several minutes of walking to the cafeteria building in silence, we met up with Eddie and Lissa. Immediately, Lissa gave me a hug and Christian a kiss, then turned back to me looking concerned.

"Oh my gosh, Rose, are you alright!? I heard that you got tested! By Dimitri! Did you get really hurt?" She hurled the words at me loudly, attracting the attention of half the kids in the cafeteria.

"Liss, I'm fine. Just a few bruises, but nothing that will keep me from finishing the field experience. I even beat Dimitri." I replied, with a hint of triumph in my words.

"Really? Wow, that's great! I mean, he's good! But hey, after Spokane-" She then stopped talking, realizing her mistake. Even though all of us survived Isaiah, that day still haunted me.

After a moment of awkwardness between us, I remembered what Christian and I were talking about before Dimitri attacked me.

"Hey, Christian- do you remember what we were talking about before?" I asked.

"Uh, you mean when we were walking here? Yeah. We were talking about you and Mason being a couple."

Lissa then stared at me for a second and said, "It's true? You and Mason are really going out?" She looked slightly hurt, probably because I didn't tell her.

"What? You heard that too? How many people think we're a couple!?" I was dumbfounded. Whoever made this rumor up is going to have a new face when I'm done with them.

"You guys aren't a couple? But Mason told me you guys were." Eddie seemed just as confused as I was.

"Yeah, Mason told me that you guys were an item also," Lissa added.

"Me too." Christian said.

Hmmm, so I guess Mason was the mastermind behind this absurd rumor. Makes sense, he's had a major crush since the beginning of time. Even though he's my friend, I'm definitely confronting him about this. Now.

"Chris, let's go- I think I'm going to have a little chat with Mason concerning this rumor." "What? No, we didn't even have food yet! And I'm hungry. Plus, I didn't see Lissa at all today. Wait until after lunch- then you can mess up his face all you want."

Ugh, Christian is such a pain in the ass to work with.

"Chris? Please? I don't want the whole school thinking that I'm going out with him." I can't believe I was reduced to BEGGING Christian to do something.

"Too late. The rumor already went around the whole school. Even the teachers probably know by now," he said, not showing me any sympathy as he walked off to get a sandwich from the lunch line.

The whole school knows already? And no one told me? Oh my God, what if the rumor reached Dimitri? That would destroy all the progress I made with him. We were so close to being a couple, but what if he hears I'm dating someone else, and thinks I lost all interest in him? That just made me want to kill Mason even more, but I guess I had to wait.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

I think for one of the first times in my life, I couldn't wait for lunch to end. Because as soon as the bell rang, I was intent on dragging Christian over to Mason's soon-to-be sorry butt and confront him about our apparent "relationship". In fact, I was so pissed- I barely touched my food. Another first for me.

"Rose, you alright?" Lissa asked. Apparently I was so annoyed I was giving my food the death glare without realizing. I snapped out of my reverie and said, "Yeah, sorry… Just thinking of ways to kill Mason."

"Oh, c'mon… it's not that bad. Mason is cute, in a sort of boy-next-door way. Plus I'm sure he'd be a good boyfriend," Lissa reasoned.

"Uh, Lis? I'm right here, ya know?" Christian butted in.

"Shut up, Christian," I told him, and he scowled at me.

"I see your field experience is going well," Adrian said to me as he sat down at our table and stole an apple from my lunch plate, not that I cared.

"Wow, Adrian- way to just burst into the conversation," I said to him with a smirk.

"It's not my fault you two were a pair made in Hell," Adrian said, and bit into the apple.

"Shut up, Adrian," I said, but let out a small smile.

"So, what we're you guys talking about until I 'burst into the conversation'?" He did air quotes for the last phrase of the sentence.

"Apparently, Mason is falsely saying that he and Rose are an item," Chris explained.

"Ah, it is just a rumor? Thank God, now I can keep flirting with you without guilt," Adrian replied.

"Like you'd feel guilty anyway," I scoffed.

Just as he was about to reply- the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Finally.

"Shit! I didn't get go to the feeder!" Christian exclaimed.

"I guess we have to go during dinner- after I kick Mason's ass. C'mon- we can't be late for your next class." I firmly told Christian as I got up to go.

"Fine then. Bye, Lissa" He said to her as he gave her a quick pluck on the cheek before we left. I simply just waved bye to my friends before we left the cafeteria and headed to Christian's next class.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

The rest of the school day was pretty much a blur. I was just waiting for the final bell to ring, so I could get to Mason and have a little 'chat' with him.

After what seemed like a centuries' time, the final bell rang, and the school day was over. I was determined to find Mason, but Christian had other plans.

"Dude! I know you really want to kill Mason, and I totally support you in that n' all, but I have to go to the feeder's! I am HUNGRY." Christian complained.

"Can it just wait, like, 15 minutes?" I tried to compromise, but it didn't help. After arguing for 10 minutes- Christian didn't budge, so I gave in- unhappily, of course.

"Fine. We'll go to your damn feeder- then off to find Mason. Agreed?" I bitterly said.

"Yep," He agreed. And with that- we headed off to go to the feeder's.

We walked across campus to the feeders, and I saw Dimitri about a hundred feet away, seemingly yelling at a student. How weird. Dimitri has never been a push-over, but even _**I **_never provoked him enough to get that mad. I wonder what's been up with Dimitri lately, he's been really… pissy. I snapped back to reality when we approached the building that was the feeder's place.

"I swear Christian- you take the longest time to feed. What we're you doing in there? Performing heart surgery?" I bitterly spat at Christian.

"Ha- ha," Christian sarcastically replied. "So let me guess, we're hunting down Mason?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied. And, as if on cue, I see Mason a few hundred feet away, looking rather annoyed as he walked with Jesse's posse of stuck up douches. My sympathy for him softened my anger a little, but not enough to prevent me from marching up there and confronting him. So I reached behind me to drag Christian over to a soon-to-be-sorry Mason, but I grabbed nothing but air. Then I feel something crash into me, knocking me over.

I spun around, just realizing what's happening. I instinctively reach for my stake- looking for Christian. I see him off to my side, roughly 5 feet away, fortunately fine. I scramble to my feet, and yanked him behind me- getting into a defensive stance, waiting for the next attack.

Then after what seemed like 5 minutes, but realistically 10 seconds, I see movement in the bushes and I subconsciously tense up. Then it happened. Dimitri came speeding out of the bushes towards me at astounding speed, while I heard the footsteps of another adult guardian creep up behind me. Damn double team.

Dimitri, who reached us first, hit me so hard in the chest, that not only did I stumble back- but I was certain I would have a bad-ass bruise. However I quickly recovered and thrown myself into a struggle with Dimitri, being too occupied to protect Christian from the other "stirgoi", who I now saw was Emil. I was certain I was screwed. But then, like it came straight out of the latest issue of Superman, Mason appeared out of nowhere and helped with Emil. And since we were back to back with Christian and Jesse between us, he managed to protect Jesse too. And since Emil isn't as good as Dimitri, Mason staked him while I was still wrestling with my 'stirgoi'. Amazingly, even if the midst of a fight, I couldn't help but enjoy the closeness between us. But I didn't dwell on that much- and quickly returned my attention to the battle. I kept struggling and struggling to get an opening. And finally, my hard work paid off- as I 'stabbed' him right in the chest, killing him. The crowd who formed around us applauded, then started to break up and continue their own lives. Breathing heavily, Emil approached us, smiling.

"Great job, you two. Brilliant teamwork. You guys would be a kick-ass duo. And Mason- you put up a great fight… very impressive." I looked at Mason, he was glowing with pride. God, he was making it REALLY hard to stay mad at him.

Emil's praise put me in a good mood, but my good mood was short lived as I saw Dimitri stomp towards us, looking pissed off. Yay.

"If it wasn't for Ashford here, your assignment would be dead." Dimitri said angrily, jerking his head in Mason's direction.

"My ASSIGNMENT has a name," I said indignantly, crossing my names to emphasize my attitude. "And you know it. Besides- out in the real world, I was perfectly fine protecting Lissa by myself."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean you'll always be perfectly fine." And with that eerie comment, he strode off to leave me with Mason and the newly formed questions whizzing around in my mind. Why is Dimitri being such a man-bitch? Is what he said true? And the most important and haunting question: what did he mean, 'it doesn't mean you'll always be perfectly fine'?


End file.
